The Case of Michelle Kosilek… Is This Good?

In 1990, Michelle Kosilek was convicted for murdering her wife. At the time of the murder, Michelle was still going by Robert and was sent to an all male prison where she currently remains incarcerated. On Sept 4th of this year, a Massachusetts judge ruled that Michelle is entitled to receive genital reassignment surgery under her 8th Amendment rights as the only course of treatment for her diagnosis of gender identity disorder, which the CNN article identified as a ‘mental illness’. I don’t say this much in print, but fuck. I sincerely do not know how to feel about this.

Let’s start easy. I’m really not super thrilled with the negative publicity here. This is no CeCe McDonald where we have a clear case of a trans woman attempting to defend herself from attack, accidentally kills the big bag of douche in the process of him attacking her, and gets railroaded by a prosecution of the ilk I suspect implies that children “seduce” pedophiles. CeCe is a rallying point for trans rights. Michelle K though, not so much. As supportive of the trans sisterhood is, I’m not expecting to see her face on any ‘Free Michelle’ placards come the next Pride season. Still though, this is transgender news, and I have to ask if any good can come of it.

OK, I’m a positive kind of gal, so let’s look at the good first. That a judge, even at the state level, was able to recognize that transgender people exist and should be entitled to treatment is a good thing. Far too many still think it’s some kind of lifestyle choice, wherein folks, out of nowhere, wake up one day and ask themselves, “what can I do to make everything a 1000 times harder than it has to be?” Whoever you are, life is already hard enough, and this being a choice is like a mountain climber intentionally breaking a leg right before attempting Everest. One would assume their reasoning is pretty damn compelling, right? Any validation we get from the man is a good thing, so let’s take that at least.

That this is being recognized in the prison system is also a good thing. Let’s be clear, the whole concept of going to prison is a lot scarier for trans folks for the most part. The chance of sexual assault is 17 times greater. Those are really bad odds for something that is universally accepted as being one of the scariest prospects ever. Due to many of the ambiguities of the transition process, it seems pretty dangerous wherever you are sent. I suppose a trans woman would be more comfortable in a woman’s prison, and certainly not at all in a men’s one. Trans men are probably also better off in a woman’s prison, because even fully transitioned, they are likely to be way too popular in the men’s wing. However you slice it, it’s going to be bad. In case you are trans and a little slow on the uptake this morning, for the love of Pete, don’t so anything that can get you sent to prison unless you are hankering for a super bad time.

Should we feel bad for Michelle in general, apart from the judge’s decision? Ugh. I’ll share my thought process. She killed someone and is subject to the same repercussions everyone else not a celebrity or less rich than Mr Burns is. Being trans, however, does open her to being subject to a whole lot more. If you are even thinking of arguing that she’s doing this as a pastime or to get sympathy, please remember that not many people in a situation with hardened criminals zealously pursue a path that marks them as weak and easily victimized by the violent horney men. Yes murder is heinous, and (assuming she is for sure guilty) she deserves to be locked up. She doesn’t deserve much worse though than everyone else in the same boat. Our penal system has limitations based on the Bill of Rights, or we’d still be using iron Maiden to torture people. Yes, I did leave out the ‘the’ on purpose. Incarceration for conviction is justice, but incarceration of a woman in a men’s prison is going way too far.

Now for the real nest of worms. Should she be entitled to GRS while in prison and at the taxpayers’ expense? Let’s look at a couple points of view, although I’ll let you know right now, I’m not even considering arguing anything teabaggeresque. Let’s say no, this is outrageous. There are hundreds or more transgender people who meet every qualification for surgery, yet lack the ability to pay the cost. Why should a prisoner receive better treatment than law abiding citizens? Now let’s say this is a blessing in disguise. Isn’t this a prime example that can be used to build the case that all insurance carriers should cover GRS? If it is deemed a medical necessity by the state in the case of a prisoner, what basis then does an insurer have to lay claim that this is a unnecessary or cosmetic procedure? Can’t helping one who may not deserve it be considered a good thing if it helps many down the line?

To me is seems that the real risk is backlash. The cost to the taxpayers is well under a cent per, so all things considered, it’s not such a big deal. Humans, however, tend to become infuriated easily if they think they are paying for something they consider undeserved. The US population is punitive in nature, and as such, much more likely to argue that this is frivolous because it’s a prisoner, even if in normal circumstances they would be unlikely to care. Look at what we are doing to immigrants right now. Millions deported who are willing to work hard and live the family values so many pin to their sleeves simply because some of them may receive some form of public assistance. Far better that everyone suffer than one “freeloader” makes out. Such is the zeitgeist of our times. Ugh.

So the real verdict here is… beyond my experience and wisdom. I can see both sides here with no clear and compelling “gotcha” that plants the flag of righteousness on either side of the issue. Sure, I’ll pontificate from time to time if I think I have a good point, but hopefully not foolish enough to think I know everything. I think this is a great subject for debate and would love to see some inputs. In the mean time, be glad you are free.

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About michellelianna

I'm a transgender woman now in the maintenance stages of transition having all the electrolysis and surgery one can reasonably be expected to undertake. While busy exploring my new world, I took to blogging about it with dubiously popular results. I don't have quite as much to say as I used to, but I'm not quite done yet either.

I personally am fine with my tax dollars going to SRS and anything else to help marginalized people access the kind of care they need. That profit is behind medical care of any kind is ludicrous to begin with. The bigger issue for me in this particular case is which prison Kosilek will be housed in (i.e. male vs. female). As a biological woman, I would feel very uncomfortable being in prison with Kosilek given her past (horrific) violence against women. Doesn’t seem safe to house her with biological women.

I hope that she is kept safe but not with women and not in the general population, this presents Challenges in many ways.
I’m happy to see your so open minded and I do understand your concerns as they are mine as well. I want fairness but it should never create a risk to others.

Many challenges indeed, and all existing within the narrow confines of the colonist culture and its ways of dealing with (and defining) wrong-doing, which just creates more problems. It’s all such a clusterfuck. I doubt ‘the powers’ would create a transgender prison, though surely a transgender section in either sex prison could be do-able. Gawd knows enough money is sunk into the prison industrial complex, it’s not like they couldn’t afford it!

Exactly @ fairness without creating risk/harm to others — we must always seek to strike Balance, and I think this is totally achievable if we just approach the issue (any issue) and people with Respect. Sadly this is easier said than done when we’re embedded in a culture whose whole existence depends on DISrespect. It’s a noose around all our necks.

There was a very real perception that bi-racial was much worse for the white than it was for the person of color. The liberal culture screamed racism when there is a very reasonable explanation for this reality::::
In this white punishment known as the United States the person of color has already adopted the disfavors/temptations intended for another race. But by associating/mating with a person of color the white is newly adopting the disfavors of another culture.
And this is the reason why people of color are not welcome in the United States. The gods control everything:::The perception they want to create, the thoughts they want you to have.
People of color can’t recover from absorbing the temptations from two cultures. And why they become more and more like so many blacks in America:::Veterans at absorbing the temptations of two cultures.
IN addition this is why California’s educational system/funding was ranked #1 when California was white.

Let me illustrate the power of their technology:::
The gods create the perception of global warming by beeming heat into (cold out) of the polar icepacks, ultimately causing rising sea levels. As they can listen to your thoughts and affect your behavior so can they the animal kingdom, which is behind the changing migrating patterns of hundreds of millions of birds and animals all at once, changing growth patterns for foliage as well as the changing weathern patterns we all experience.
Similarly, the gods can alter your percption of food. They can beem sugar out of fruit, flavor out of meat.
I suspect like the biotechnology issue they use genetic engineering to accomplish the goal of bland produce (and reduced nutrition) to eliminate their culpability, but do not paint with such a broad brush. Rather it occurrs on an individual-by-individual basis. This way they can maintain control::::Conditioning/reinforcement and denial at the same dinner table.
Realize they can also affect taste, so their options are open. As with the retard, military draft vs. volunteer force and other examples from earlier, expect it boils down to an issue of culpability::If the gods don’t accept blame they don’t have to “make it up to us” and the decay we experience accelerates when you are reincarnated without their assistance in placement or during life.

The gods placed us all into our own corners of the globe. As such for thousands of years we spent time and reproduced with out own kind.
This is why mobilty/travel, biracial unions/offspring and partaking of other cultures is a sin::::
Each has it’s own elements of disfavor, and by experiencing other cultures you are being exposed to these disfavors, which if people may adopt will make their state even worse than prior.
The United States has been considered a “melting pot” where rejects from around the world were sent when kicked out of their motherland.
Remember, this concept of cultural diversity is an element of the liberal platform the gods used to promote societal decay, revealed on the map with the “beast” that is the SanFranciscoBayArea and the spread of social deterioration that spread to the rest of the country and eventually to the entire globe.

The gods are in possession of absolute power and always have had total control over proceedings on Planet Earth using the tools at their disposal to manage and achieve the desired perception and results in society. One of these tools is clone “clone host” fake people.
As people age the gods bestow wisdom according to their level of favor. All people would achieve this wisdom at some level, and some would change their path in life. Because of the importance of the upper eschelons in Earth’s decay the gods used this tool of clone hosts to ensure nothing changes as would when their “reals” learned::A constant turnover of eager 20 year-old preditors fresh out of high school ensures a fresh new supply of young people eager to “earn”. Ironic it is the youth who ensures Planet Earth’s stagnation, whereas society says something quite opposite.
Only through a historical event like this Situation is large-scale change possible. It’s not only an issue of the 20 year-olds learning they made a mistake with their choice but also of the gods still being willing to allow this macro change.

As with some things in this life “less is more”. Sex is one of those things. They used the liberal age to promote casual “free” sex intentionally::Combined with “women’s lib” and their initiation into the “trenches” of the workplace people experineced a mass masculinization of their females.
The gods use sex as temptation. This is why the most disfavored among us are preoccupied with it. While some may feel being well-endowed is a sign of favor the truth is just the opposite. And often the result is misogyny, a belittling of the favored gender, and stagnation of the people as a whole.
Less is more. When young women experience passing thoughts which say you’re doing something wrong instead of fighting or dismissing the though you should heed the warning. Sadly in today’s world too many experience prolonged periods of promiscuity in their lives, whereas if married by 15 like throughout human history this disfavor was avoided.

The gods used Christainity as temptation to repel people away from themselves. The pentagram is charecterized by xtianity as a symbol of Satan but ironically the reality is the opposite:::The god’s holy symbol. Similarly, the penticle, the reverse pentagram, is the real symbol of hatred of the gods. As far as the gods see it if those foolish enough to behave in this manner hate the gods then they should have the real thing, which will cost them in the end.
Don’t forget::::It is not a house of Jesus.
Christianity is evil. It is responsible for slavery of Africans. It is responsible for this wicked reject dumping ground known as the United States which was used to destroy the Old World around the globe.
There is a major difference between how Europe and the rest of the world were inflicted with xtianity:::Push vs. pull strategy. As a result, expect the “1000 years with Jesus on Earth” may be reserved for the Europeans and few others who were forced into this evil religion:::The god’s management of culpability defines the level of compensation everyone receives.
The god’s primary goal with this Situation was their minimization of culpability arising from inflicting us with the 20th century and/or liberal counter-culture. Everything I have taught is true. Now that this Situation is complete the disfavored have been taught. The gods are no longer/minimally responsible from this point forward, pitiful “reach around” compensation for ruining your Planet Earth, which is what liberalism has done. Their empty promise to me “We’ll make it up to him.” has been met with similar inadequate compensation in your case, and the gods will find a way to wash their hands of this obligation to me as well.
If they were honest how little they ultimately intended to grant us our sacrifice would have ended long ago, but they used this lie “We’ll make it up to them.” to further our misery, with absolution of obligation on the agenda for the future. I am that clue.
My experience is obscene. I paid everything. But at least the gods got what they wanted.

The gods offered Clues about my importance, who I am. They occurr on a weekly, even a DAILY basis. The tip of the iceberg is listed below::
Air France’s Concorde
Christa McAuliffe, Concord, NH
Carnaval’s Costa Concordia
Concord:::In the “eye of The Beast”
Downey Savings
1998:: “He gets 4 years.”, “(His chance is OVER!!)”:::2.1.03 (SS Columbia) & 11.26.03 (Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde).
My miracle of Ocean Beach, witnessed by MILLIONS on the West Coast
Diablo’s Mt. Zion:::Slowly being eaten away until one day paradise is gone forever
Carry That Weight
Unit 731::TSUSHOGO
Zastava Koral

Had I did the right thing and prayed/worked on my problems instead their audience would have been decieved with developments::::
1. When I got sick, punishment for being PUSHED into my evil, they would have told the disfavored I was being fucked for not doing as I was told.
2. When I continued and reached the maximum progress the gods would allow in this life they would have killed me and sold it to the disfavored as if I refused to change. This would have effectively eliminated any dissention and/or attempts for the disfavored to change on their own. (Both these dates were inevitable::One accomplished, the other scripted into their agenda, and just like 2008 it is a concrete date.)
As frightened of death as you may be both these developments are good, contrary to appearances. The goal in life is to make as much progress as quickly as possible and be reincaranted, for society is constantly in a state of decay, enhancing temptations, and new things are added which could trip up a young candidate, negating any claims of “forgiveness”. The addition of HD video games and social media illustrate how new media captures targetted genders.
As it turned out I instead explained how the gods do business, how they used liberal politics to accelerate the path of deterioration. Also realize how crucial this understanding is, a requirement to the disfavored’s ability to change their lives, because they needed to understand before they could accept they went the wrong way for all these decades.
Long long ago the gods made the decision to end on Planet Earth. As such they force reincarnation of individuals who are long past Damnation, allowing them to continue justifying decaying Earth at the rapid pace we experience.

Ronald Reagan spent the communist block into submission with defense buildup, and in the process increased the National debt from $1 trillion in 1980 to $6 trillion when he left office.
W charged both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to the national debt, honest numbers to come.
The gods used W to initiate the “Great Recession” with deliberate legislation/regulation changes, allowing the sub-prime fiasco and corporate irresponsibility/criminal behavior which led to the multi-trillion dollar stimulous package, pocketted by Republican friends and donors::::$5 trillion charged to the National credit card.
Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t::::With the Democrats you subscribe to social decay via liberlism. Republicans are being used by the gods to bankrupt the United States, ultimately motivating people to the point of “desperation prayer” once anarchy presides.

Interesting comment, I didn’t understand all of it but I agree with this part:

“Christianity is evil. It is responsible for slavery of Africans. It is responsible for this wicked reject dumping ground known as the United States which was used to destroy the Old World around the globe [including the Americas].”

I’m not religious so I don’t subscribe to ‘evil’ per se, but (aspects of?) Christianity/Islam/Judaism and all of colonization / domestication (of people & animals) / industrialization / hierarchies / kyriarchies are as close to evil as evil gets, perhaps more accurately just the cutting off of being Human and the destruction that comes with it. I perceive all this as pure predatory and psychopath/sociopath behaviors and mindsets more so than ‘evil’, though maybe it’s potato/potahto. It’s all relentless pushing pushing pushing and boundary trampling in the most devastating of ways, causing so much (unnecessary and preventable!!) pain and suffering.

I also feel that this does not help the TG/TS community. I will be shocked if there isn’t a backlash, which there may be in the Tea bag world. The only “upside” to the story is the judge affirming that this is a medically necessary treatment. Which hopefully will help wedge open the pocket books of private insurance companies.

I don’t think this is going to help our cause, it has a certain ugliness to it.
Nice to hear a Judge feels it’s a necessary treatment for GID (but) this give the public to many reasons to be reposed by the whole process.
Sucks that the Media seems to report on Trans issues like this more often than a positive one.
Mental Illness doesn’t give us a good start on any level, Abnormality in my onion might serve us better, surgery could sound more like a good treatment for our condition.
what do I know, I, four years ago, made thing 1,000 times harder on myself, in this world that’s enough to be deemed nuts.
Love, Erin